Seafood is a Southeast Texas culinary staple. In fact, it’s an entire industry.

As diners, we sometimes take for granted that there are boats just minutes away that harvest delectable Gulf sea creatures for us to savor in all sorts of ways.

One person who doesn’t take that for granted is Trinh Nguyen.

His family started with a shrimping supply store, then a boat. In May 2013, they opened Kevin Rico Seafood and Oyster Bar, where they serve Gulf oysters year-round and specialize in shrimp straight from the family boat.

“We take great pride in our shrimp,” Nguyen said. “Our family has been bringing it to Southeast Texas for 20 years.”

While Nguyen always dreamed of running a restaurant, he didn’t necessarily plan to. He recently graduated from A&M with a degree in maritime administration.

“I just couldn’t get away from the ocean,” he said.

When the opportunity presented itself, he

knew he wanted his place to served real cuisine, not just fried seafood.

“We wanted to cover all the bases of a seafood restaurant — I love American cuisine, soul food and Cajun food,” Nguyen said. “And we really wanted to do oysters, because not many people do them.”

As for the rest of the menu, there’s something for pretty much everyone.

Claudia Marks comes three or four times a week.

“I was wondering why I’m gaining all this weight, but I sometimes come here twice a day,” she admitted.

When asked for her top picks, she recited practically half the menu — gumbo, salt and pepper chicken wings and popcorn shrimp, with the Cajun fried crabs and blackened catfish at the top of her list.

Her friend Susan Valentine was happily plowing through a bucket of spicy-looking crawfish.

“The crawfish have the perfect spice,” Valentine said. “I love the flavor and spice of the barbecue fried crabs — they come out hot and fresh. And the Vietnamese egg rolls are perfectly crisp.”

Shrimp lovers will not regret ordering the shrimp enthusiast dinner: four beautifully seasoned and grilled straight-from-the-Gulf shrimp on a skewer, three bacon-wrapped shrimp and three shrimp tempura are served on a bed of dirty rice. With a side of fresh — yes fresh — green beans.

Kevin Rico’s gumbo is notably different. While the roux is more broth-like and lighter than what I normally prefer, it retains a complex flavor with plenty of chunky red and green bell peppers and onions, as well as an ideal mixture of shrimp and crawfish, plus chicken and sausage. I loved the slightly sticky, Asian-style rice served with it.

Every week, Kellie Smith visits Kevin Rico’s just for the salt and pepper wings.

“This place is very clean and they’ve got good service,” Smith said. “I’m turning everyone on to it – that’s why I’m picking up three orders of the salt and pepper chicken. I also like the feeling of the interior.”

The interior is unexpectedly classy for a strip mall eatery in Port Arthur. A small bar area (serving basic mixed drinks and beer) and well-placed Asian-inspired flair create an atmosphere that encourages customers to dine and linger. To my chagrin — but other diners’ pleasure — there are plenty of televisions on the walls.

When a locally owned seafood eatery showcases locally sourced seafood prepared using methods other than just deep-frying, suddenly I find myself willing to overlook the whole TV-in-a-restaurant thing.

“I want to give people something real, something they know someone cooked just for them,” Nguyen said. “The shrimp is personal. When I was 16, I went on the boat for the first time and watched them pick them up one by one. And now we cook them.”